David Fincher's latest film takes a misstep.
While Fincher maintains a strong visual and auditory presentation, a significant narrative flaw undermines the story's logical coherence. The protagonist, a professional killer, fails to take care of his target and then turns to go after the boss. What's even harder to accept is the inconsistent tone throughout the entire film. This reflects Fincher's struggles with creation and underscores Netflix's reliance on A-list directors amid its rapid expansion.
The Silent Chatterbox
After Zodiac, Fincher vowed to steer clear of serial killer films.
Fincher did not adhere to his promise. Although The Killer is not a serial murder story, it involves a series of killings. Fincher continues to explore the territory he carved out with Se7en, Zodiac, and even The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
However, Fincher's approach has failed this time. The reason is that he lost his artistic confidence.
For this film, Fincher reunited with Kevin Walker, the writer of Se7en, ambitiously tasking him with crafting a script where the protagonist speaks as little as possible. Walker recalls, 'I handed in a script with only thirteen lines of dialogue. I have tried my best.'
However, Fincher did provide the killer with a catchphrase. An essential premise Fincher established for Walker was the continuous repetition of this catchphrase, yet as the storyline progressed, the catchphrase began to disintegrate and contradict itself.
Fincher says, 'No matter how much he (the killer) claims to be emotionless, he will be driven by an intense emotion, which he won't even admit.'
It's not just Fincher who prefers the silence. Fassbender watched many old films during the actors' strike, and among them include Melville's Le Samouraï.
The silent killer, played by Alain Delon, left a lasting impression on him. He told his agent that he wanted to do something similar.
A few days later, Fincher and Fassbender met at a party in Paris. Fincher said, 'I had a photo of Fassbender with a fisherman's hat. Then I told him, touch your hat, that's a movie shot.' — Just like Le Samouraï.
Yet, Fincher undermines the meticulously crafted zen-like ambiance. He amplifies lengthy monologues to create a smoother film while injecting additional detail and depth into the character. These monologues delve into the killer's psychological dynamics, habits, quirks, and even his grievances regarding assassinating targets.
Thus, while constructing a silent character, Fincher also shapes a chatty one. He builds and deconstructs it simultaneously.
Therefore, a paradox emerges: this film emphasises 'silence' in visual and auditory language, yet long, unnecessary monologues destroy this audio-visual effect. Perhaps this is Fincher's intentional experiment, or Fincher is forcing himself to stay faithful to the source material.
Regardless, thirteen lines of dialogue versus a hundred and thirty lines of monologue unquestionably undercut Fincher's creation.
Self-Indulgence Depletes Popularity
The pandemic and the strike have paralysed the global film industry. Renowned directors had the time and opportunity to reflect on their creations. Thus, Nolan and Scorsese adjusted and selected their works with Oppenheimer and Killers of the Flower Moon. Fincher is no exception.
In The Killer, he abandons the complex story structure like in Fight Club and Gone Girl, opting for a more minimalist approach to tell a simpler story. As the story progresses, the killer repeatedly oscillates between following and breaking rules. The whole story is filled with unexpected incidents and dark humour.
The killer in this film is not 007, but a corporate salaryman. For the sake of his family and himself, he repeatedly tests the boundaries of death. Fincher removes blurred vision elements, and pure rhythmic and action scenes remain. Thus, he creates a 'minimalist' film—anti-climax, anti-genre, anti-cinema.
Perhaps he wants to portray a real killer in an unexpected way. However, he fails to stay composed and contributes Hollywood-style action scenes to the film. This is a contrast to Melville's calm and collected approach.
Further criticism lies with the villains in this film, who come across as non-playable characters (NPCs) in a computer game. They can't even be regarded as tools; they merely exist as tasks on the killer's mission list.
In terms of spiritual values, The Killer leans more towards Hitman and Assassin's Creed. In terms of audio-visual language, it seems like an artistic film. This torn feeling reflects Fincher's struggles. The logical consistency between 'visual image' and 'aesthetic motivation' is absent in this film.
It's possible that Fincher found pleasure in crafting a film with a music video-style approach during the shooting process, or perhaps he rekindled a long-lost sense of excitement. Regrettably, this element that intrigued him failed to captivate the audience.
The previous achievements made by the entangling text and technique in Gone Girl have turned into self-entertainment of directorial skills in this film. It could have been a fundamental film returning to the roots of the genre, a film of this era's Le Samouraï. However, it ends up on a path to self-destruction.
The profession of a killer is almost identical to Fincher's temperament as a creator. However, he does not want to explore the plot and narration. All scenes, character studies, and text stories remain on the surface. Superficial brings a sense of dullness, creating a feeling of mediocre and tastelessness.
Therefore, it's not that the audience rejects the film; it's that Fincher doesn't take the audience seriously, let alone consider Luc Giacomo's comics as a valid text.
With Netflix's deep pockets, they continue to support him. He had a blast but also squandered his popularity with the public.
The Director 'Betrays' Himself
Valuing the audience's experience, rather than subjecting them to stress tests, stands as Hollywood's magic wand for successfully marketing films on a global scale. This approach has also been pivotal in elevating Fincher to the ranks of top-tier directors.
However, he repeatedly abandons his directorial faith in The Killer and lets the characters venture into nothingness. The protagonist's motives for killing are lack of feasibility and logic, which contrasts with John's role played by Spacey in Se7en.
In an interview, Fincher expressed his interest in the character's nihilism: 'It is related to his self-loathing, so I started thinking about his inner monologue. He tells himself the whole story, which is a way of denigrating the prey. I think this process might be interesting. '
Fincher uses The Killer to create an opportunity to explore the relationship between the film and the audience. The monologues in the film build this relationship. 'I like the silent agreement between the voiceover and the audience. Looking at life through the eyes and scope of an assassin places the audience in an interesting position. Let's see how far they will go. '
Subjecting the audience to such a stress test was not Fincher's intention. The Killer is a project spanning over a decade. Initially, he did not structure the film this way. He wanted to adapt the story into a five-act structure, with each act being twenty minutes long, each distinct from the others, forming a palindrome structure. However, this framework did not resonate with the 2023 Fincher. Especially after Love, Death & Robots, it seems he increasingly favours the popular and mainstream.
This mainstream culture does not go far. After stripping away the drama and suspense from the film, the story becomes bleak and straightforward, lacking the finesse and precision of Se7en. Fincher mentioned mockingly he had expectations for the film. He said, 'This is more like angry revenge. '
The Killer premiered in Venice and received dismal reviews afterwards. The last time Fincher appeared in Venice was for Fight Club. After that, he was 'kicked out' of this city because Fight Club spread 'fascism'.
'No one liked that movie at the time. Twenty years later, people ask, why can't you make movies like you did back then? I can only shrug and say, well, okay. '
Fincher aimed to fly straight to the target, ignoring the fascinating details. He said, 'My goal this time is to create a unique viewing experience, rejecting those fascinating things. I don't want to create a maze. I want to shoot an arrow straight to the bullseye. '
Undoubtedly, looking at the performance of The Killer, he achieved this goal but also abandoned the audience. Just like Love, Death & Robots is getting worse, he seems stuck in the quagmire of creativity.
After Venice, someone asked Fincher how long it had been since he watched Fight Club, and Fincher replied that he hadn't watched it since the film was completed. Abandoning the past and the experience of success is the inevitable path from a great director to a legendary one. However, Fincher gives up artistic correctness and embraces the loop of self-error—
In this sense, he betrays himself.
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